Car-brake lever.



No. 658,226. Patented Sept. I8, I900. J. C. WESTERFIELD &. H. S.CH|NNOCK,-]R.

CAR BRAKE LEVER.

(Applicatian filed Apr. 28, 1900.

(No Model.)

W K, m, N

m A M i WITNESSES UNITED STATES.

JOSEPH O. WESTERFIELD, OF ARLINGTON, AND HARRY SINGER GHINNOCK,

PATENT OFFICE.

JR., OF BELLEVILLE, JERSEY. I

' CAR-BRAKE LEVER.

SPECIFICATION formin part of Letters Patent No. 658,226, dated.s'eptember 18, 1900.

Application filed April 28, 1900. Serial No. 14,697. (No model.)

T0 aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOSEPH O. WESTER- FIELD, of Arlington, in thecounty of Hudson,. and HARRY SINGER CHINNOOK, Jr., of Belleville, in thecounty of Essex, State of New Jersey, citizens of the United States,have invented a new and Improved Oar-B rake Lever, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description. I

This invention relates to improvements'in levers for setting car brakes,particularly freight-cars on which the brakes are operated from the topof the car or elsewhere.

In setting brakes hard, as is often found necessary with loaded cars, itis the usual practice to employ a hand-lever in the form of a woodenstick inserted between the spokes of the brake-wheel. This is somewhatdangerous because of the liability of the lever slipping out of itsengagement with the wheel, and, further, such levers are liable to belost or out of reach when most needed.

Itis the object of our invention, therefore, to provide a brake-lever asa permanent attachment to the brake-rod, thus avoiding the dangers anddifiiculties above mentioned, and to so connect it to the rod that itmay swing out of the way when not in use.

We will describe a car-brake lever embodying our invention, and thenpoint out the novel features in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a car, showing a device embodying ourinvention as applied thereto; and Fig. 2 is a plan view.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the ordinary brake-rod, extendedabove the roof of the car and having on its upper end the hand-wheel 2.Attached to the rod, but so as to swing in a vertical plane withrelation thereto, is an operating-lever 3. As here shown, thisoperating-lever is pivotally connected to a collar 4, mounted to rotateon the' rod 1 and supported from moving downward thereon by means of afixed collar 5 on the rod. These parts 4 and 5 may be easily placed onthe rod by removing the brake or hand-wheel 2.

Attached to the lever 3 is a hook-shaped arm 6, adapted to engage witheither one or with a succession of the wheel-spokes 7. Normally thelever 3 will hang down parallel with the rod 1, and as the said rod 1may rotate in the collar 4 it is obvious that the brake may be set byturning the hand-wheel 2 in the usual manner. quired, however, the'lever3 is to be swung upward to engage the arm 6 with the spoke of thehand-wheel, as indicated in the draw ings. Then by drawing or pushingupon the lever it is obvious that the brake rod may be turned. Should itbe desired to give a further turn to the brake-rod, the arm 6 may bedisengaged from a spoke and engaged with the next or any other one ofthe series of spokes As the lever 3 and the arm 6 are made in one or twopieces of iron or other suitable metal they are not easily broken, asmight happen with a wooden lever, and, further, the lever embodying ourinvention cannot be lost, as it is permanently attached to thebrake-rod, and it does not interfere with the ordinary operation of thebrake rod. Fur ther, the device may be readily attached to brake-rodsand brake-wheels as now constructed and connected to cars. 7 It will benoted that the end of the arm 6 projects laterally of the lever, so thatthere will be no danger of its slipping down out of engagement with aspoke when the lever is in operation.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Pa'tent- In a car-brake mechanism, the combinationwith a brake-rod and a hand-wheel thereon, of a fixed collar on the rodbelow the wheel,

a collar mounted'loosely on the rod betweenthe fixed collar and thewheel, a lever pivotally connected to the last-named collar, and ahook-shaped arm on the lever, the end of said arm being beyond one sideof the lever, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of the subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH O; WESTERFIELD. HARRY SINGER GHINNOGK, JR. Witnesses to thesignature of Joseph C. Westerfield: l

WALTER CLARK, GEO. S. CLA K.

Witnesses to the signature of Harry S.

Ohinnock, Jr.: Y

J. O. RAYMONDE, MARK WINANS.

Should unusual force be re

